TOPIC: Questions before First Saber Order

Hi, I've been lurking for a while and am prepared to finally order my first SF saber! I've got a few questions before I place the order - been searching for answers all over the forums but haven't found anything so please forgive me if I'm missing the obvious!

1. If i buy a pre-built (i LOOOOVE the Sinister Prophecy), will i be able to change out the parts in future with parts from the ASP store? ie are pre-built sabers ASP compatible?

2. Looking at the two options, pre-built vs ASP, it seems like you can build almost any combination on ASP (again i use sinister prophecy as example) that is available prebuilt at a significantly cheaper price, and if i am reading it correctly, ASP delivers in February while prebuilt needs 14-16 weeks bringing delivery time to March/April. Is there a significant reason why I should be going for prebuilts vs ASP? Am i missing something here?

3. What is the optimal length for a saber hilt? As mentioned I love the Sinister Prophecy but I also really like the idea of a leather wrapped hilt.. playing around with the ASP, i get a custom hilt that is about 15inches long. Is that too big? I'm not very tall, only about 5"6 so I worry if this becomes unwieldy. Any advice?

Thanks in advance!

P.S. Here's a link to the saber i configured

Yes... and no. Most pommels will be easy to switch out but some pre-built hilts are configured differently than their ASP counterparts. The most clear example of this is the Epoch which has its switch section in different parts of the hilt depending on whether it's the ASP or pre-built model. The pre-built parts are also glued together so if you did want to play around with swapping parts out you'd need to request the components not be glued. Some hilts will never make the jump to ASP if their design can't be split into the ASP configuration of pommel/body/switch/emitter. Part of the ambiguity you mention comes from wait times being a bit askew due to a variety of reasons (holidays, TFA, ASP launch, etc.). Prices, though, are a smidge cheaper and you get the stands/belt clips as extras. I suspect that the pre-built v. ASP difference will be largely aesthetic as the pre-builts and ASP sabers will look slightly different from each other due to the considerations taken to break the design up into the four parts. My preferences skew towards longer is better. It entirely depends on your dueling style. Also just because a saber is long that doesn't mean that all of the length is space your hands can grip.

*eyeballs your design*

For a hilt that long a two handed grip would probably be the most natural way to wield it. I would wager that one handed spinning would be a bit difficult since it is so long. *shrugs* Whether a hilt is too big or small is really up to the personal preferences of the wielder. Personally I favor longer hilts because I feel they stronger more intentional duelers vs. the one handed hilts.

Angelus728 wrote:
Depends on your style. If you're going one-handed or plan on spinning, I would pick an emitter with a choke or shorten the hilt a bit.

If you're more of a power duelist or you want reach than the longer is better.

Based on what you picked I would add a piece with a choke a bit closer to the emitter. If You use a 37 inch blade, that would put you closer to the balance point, and would naturally force your grip towards the balance point for both one and two handed. It would also allow you to better one-hand a large hilt.

It looks fine for the most part though and honestly it depends on your own strengths. A strong enough person can wield a large hilt with a single hand. Chokes just make blades easier to wield and can compensate for hilts with harder to wield aesthetics.

You're kinda my height, which makes it awkward for duelling/ wielding a full sixe 37". Once my Descent arrives, I'll get an epoch or consular with a 32".
I've heard guys saying they've cut or filed down the base of their blades for balance and better control but that's up to how confident you're feeling.

Thanks for all the helpful advice guys! I'll be going for the 32" blade, now just gotta decide on the hilt! Still very torn... the ASP has so much potential and options but the Sinister Prophecy is just gorgeous on its own.. check out this pic *DROOOLLLL*

Ooh.
Is it cold in here, or did that pic just make me shudder?